SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ENTERPRISE : Work Is a Wild Ride for ‘Show Designers’

Neither Rick Bastrup nor Richard Ferrin ever really got Disneyland out of their blood. Both worked there as teens. Later, they met and formed a company, R&R; Creative Designs Inc., while both were working as security guards at the Disneyland Hotel.

These days, they work for the competition.

For the past 14 years, R&R; Creative of Anaheim has been building a reputation as a “show designer” for some of the biggest names in theme parks, including Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios Florida and MGM Grand Movieworld in Las Vegas.

Show designers create themes and story lines, write scripts for narrations and design the look of rides and other attractions at amusement parks.

For example, R&R;’s most highly praised creation is a ride through an “underground” river at a Denver water park.

The fantasy ride, created for Hyland Hills Waterworld, was conceived with a story line that an ancient river was discovered by the park’s construction crew, and the ride scene is set with swamps, hot springs and animated dinosaurs.

Most of the large amusement parks, such as Disneyland, have in-house designers who conceptualize the themes of their rides. R&R; is one of the few independents that has broken through that barrier and done work at major parks as well as minor ones, including Adventure City and Camelot in Anaheim and Castle Park in Riverside.

With a number of theme parks and expansions planned across the nation, industry observers expect show designers to be in demand in coming years.

Six Flags Magic Mountain, for example, recently announced a water park addition in Valencia, and a $700-million theme park is planned at Sheraton’s Desert Inn in Las Vegas.

Bastrup, 44, says he has been in love with theme parks since visiting Disneyland and the now-closed Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica as a kid with his parents. The first rides he ever created were at his parents’ Anaheim home--where he would cart neighborhood kids around a course in a wagon while he narrated a story.

The 34-year-old Ferrin has likewise been a theme park buff since childhood and has made it his life goal to build rides. Ferrin even spent his honeymoon carting his bride to every amusement park between Orlando, Fla.--home of Walt Disney World--and Washington, D.C.

But it wasn’t until the two men met that their dreams became reality. Though they insist that all their work is collaborative, Bastrup and Ferrin clearly have distinct strengths that make the partnership work.

Bastrup writes the scripts for the rides and selects and records the music and sound effects. Ferrin, an artist by training, sketches the designs, creates logos and makes miniature models of the projects. He also has extensive training in the technical side of the field--in computer design and lighting. Ferrin is also in charge of checking on the safety and maintenance of the attractions--a crucial issue in selling a design.

R&R;, like many small companies, started operations in a garage. In their spare time, the two avid model builders would get together to design fantasy rides. “We had no idea where it was going; we did it for fun,” Bastrup said.

What began as an after-hours hobby has turned into a highly successful company. R&R; declined to reveal its revenue, but industry watchers estimate that such a company would take in more than $400,000 a year. Competing companies said the design phase of creating an attraction usually represents about 10% of the total cost. So, for a $5-million ride the design group would receive about $500,000.

Since 1990, R&R; has helped open eight major attractions at theme parks across the country. Most recently, the company opened two multimillion-dollar rides at MGM Grand in Las Vegas--the Backlot River Tour and Grand Canyon Rapids.

The Backlot River Tour is a riverboat ride that showcases movie special effects. The boat captain accidentally steers guests through movie sets where fictitious movies, such as “The Temple of Gloom” and “Jungle Storm,” are being filmed. Among the special effects the rider sees are a volcanic eruption inside the temple and a helicopter battle scene in the jungle.

Grand Canyon Rapids is a simulated raft ride through high canyon walls, into caverns in the canyon, down a creaking mine shaft and through an old Western town where a shootout is taking place between the marshal and a pair of bandits.

The rides at the MGM Grand are among the most high-profile projects R&R; has completed in the last few years.

But the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” built in Denver won the 1993 award for best new water park ride from the International Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions, and a top award from the World Waterpark Assn.

The $2-million attraction “is the first totally covered water ride in the world,” said Rick Fuller, spokesman for Hyland Hills Waterworld. Visitors often wait in line for up to 90 minutes for the five-minute underground adventure, he added.

Such work has won praise from many in the theme park industry.

Jim Hackett, president of Anitech Systems Inc. in Valencia, a manufacturer of theme park equipment, said R&R; has a reputation for creating original designs that integrate all the necessary safety standards. “One of the reasons they are successful is because people trust them,” Hackett said.

Right now, R&R; is “taking a breather,” but not for long, Bastrup said. As new attractions are scheduled to be built in Las Vegas and California in the next few years, Bastrup and Ferrin said they plan to be involved.